Quora, like LinkedIn, can be very valuable for B2B companies and increasingly good for B2C businesses. Quora, in its simplest form, is a question and answer site. What makes it unique is the high quality of the questions asked and the community around it. It's not unlikely to bump into the CEO of a software company or a PR specialist, who is giving away their knowledge freely. It is a great place to give and receive information from professionals and novices around the world. To top it off, there is a question or topic for just about anything you can think of.

5 Ways To Start Building A Following And Credibility On Quora

1. Create A Strong Profile

As with any social network, having a strong profile is very important for Quora. At the very least, upload a picture and write a bio. Of course, the more information you put on there, the more credibility you are likely to have. Remember that you can change your headline and a little information about you for every topic. Use this to your advantage and make your information targeted to the questions you will be answering under this topic.

2. Follow People In Your Industry

The easiest way to start getting people looking at your profile is to start following people. You don't want to follow just anyone, but you do want to follow potential business partners, clients, or valuable connections. If you are very passionate about a hobby, you might want to follow expert gardeners, or basketball players. You don't have to limit yourself to business only, but for the sake of this article I am going to focus on business.

3. Follow Topics

Just as you would follow people, you can follow topics. These should be industry related topics that you think you would be able to answer questions on. For example, I am following Social Media, Marketing, and Startups, because I know I can answer a lot of questions there. Take some time out and think about the types of questions you can answer. Those are the topics you should be following.

4. Answer Questions

Now that you are following different topics, it is time to start answering questions. This is going to be the most important aspect of building a following and to start branding yourself as an expert in your industry. To find questions, you do a simple search, or monitor your topics on a regular basis. I like to answer questions that are related to my blogs because it shows that I know what I am talking about when it comes to Social Media, and it allows me to link back to my site at the same time, making it a double win for me. Don't forget that questions and answers can be voted up or down, in a Reddit fashion. The best thing that can happen to your question or answer is that it is featured on the front page, so make sure you are thorough in your answers, and don't just throw up a link and call it a day.

5. Ask Questions

No one likes a know-it-all, so once in a while ask a question. It makes you seem more vulnerable and people like that. It also gives you an opportunity to meet people who might know something you don't.

6. Write a Quora Blog

This is a new feature for Quora and you can use it to your advantage. It gives you the opportunity to write a bit more information than you would have in the answer section, while showcasing your knowledge and personality. The blogs lie on the subdomain (SOMETHING.quora.com) level so if you were lucky to grab some good ones, you are one step closer to getting your branding on. As is always the case with any good content marketing strategy, think about the types of blogs you will write and make sure they are related to the Quora audience. Of course you will have to promote them. See here for some guidelines.

7. Share

Don't forget about the share buttons on the questions and answers. If you want to get more exposure for your answer, share the questions with LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, or all three. The more you push things out there, the more you can pull people in.

Stephanie Frasco

Stephanie Frasco, VP Social Media Marketing, started helping businesses get results with social networks before Twitter even existed! Stephanie has worked directly with high profile clients like Oprah, Atlantic Records, Dashlane, The International Culinary Center, & many more. She specializes in helping business owners and marketers find massive ROI by developing targeted social campaigns focused on *engagement strategies* that work!

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[…] media world. By doing so, you are building credibility and trust. There are many ways to go about branding yourself as an expert. You can do this on your blog, on your LinkedIn page, on your Facebook page, and on […]